Heat's James Johnson had sports hernia surgery league source confirms

Heat forward James Johnson defends against Philadelphia's guard Ben Simmons in the in the fourth quarter of the playoff: round 1 game 4 between the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ERS, at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Saturday, April 21, 2018.
Pedro Portal
pportal@miamiherald.com

Miami Heat forward James Johnson, who at times this past season didn’t display the same explosiveness going to the basket as he did in his first season with the team, recently underwent sports hernia surgery a league source confirmed to The Miami Herald.

Johnson, who turned 31 in February, is still expected to be ready for the start of training camp in September. The normal recovery time for sports hernia surgery is six to 12 weeks. A league source said Johnson “will have full recovery in the next few weeks.”

Johnson, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal last summer and is due to make $14.7 million next season, has played through pain in the past. He missed only eight games because of injury in the regular season (six with right ankle bursitis).

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His scoring production dipped slightly from 12.8 points in 27.4 minutes per game in 2016-17 to 10.8 points in 26.6 minutes per game last season. His rebounding (4.9) and assist averages (3.8) were nearly the same as his first season with the team.

He averaged 12.4 points, six rebounds and 4.8 assists in 32.1 minutes per game in Miami’s five-game playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. He also led the team in minutes played (160) in the series.